Schism, Spherical Harmonic, The Moon's Shadow, by Catherine Asaro
Schism: Part One of Triad
by Catherine Asaro
398 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/SF/Romance
Plot: Sauscony Valdoria Skolia (Soz) leaves her home world of Lyshriol against her father's wishes and attends the Dieshan Military Academy (DMA, also coincidentally the acronym for the Delaware Military Academy). I'm running out of things to comment on; like I said in an earlier review, Asaro's strengths and weaknesses don't vary much from book to book. I read Part Two of Triad first out of the entire Saga, and I immediately fell in love with Soz. This volume necessarily suffers from lack of tension, but it's partially my fault for reading all over the place. The background exposition is also identical to previous books, making me wonder if Asaro just keeps the relevant explanations in a text file somewhere, ready to be copy-pasted in. But of course that can't be true. Still, Soz's story is fascinating. I only wish her classes were the focus instead of the "world" events; I think this would have succeeded better as more bildungsroman and less space opera.
Spherical Harmonic
by Catherine Asaro
428 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/SF/Romance
An experimental style in the opening, which I think succeeded in truly showing Dehya's experience with coalescing. Which is basically what happens: Dehya (Dyhianna Selei, Ruby Pharaoh) returns to existence after spending some time as thought waves in Kyle space, then proceeds to overthrow the Imperial Assembly and partially reinstate it. I liked the use of grammar to show the Shay language. This volume has the most obvious hard science, perhaps due to Dehya being a genius at math and Asaro being in love with spherical harmonics (I have no idea what they are, except that the pictures of gradiant balls are pretty). For hard-core sciency folks, there's a lengthy author's note/essay at the end explaining lots of stuff. I skimmed over it because I'm trying to finish all my self-assigned reading homework before Alpha on Wednesday.
The Moon's Shadow
by Catherine Asaro
478 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/SF/Romance
This story overlaps with Spherical Harmonic and to a lesser extent Ascendant Sun. Told in tight third from Jaibriol III (Jai)'s POV, it is a long and hard look into the inner machinations of the Eubian Concord aka Trader Empire. Jai, the daughter of Soz and Jaibriol from Primary Inversion and The Radiant Seas, trades himself in exchange for his uncle Eldrin to become, at age 17, the new Emperor Qox. Scheming and assassination attemps ensue; Jai must simultaneously protect himself from overwhelming Aristo minds and use his abilities as a psion to gain advantage in cutthroat, convulted Eubian politics. He ends up marrying Tarquine Iquar, Eube's Finance Minister and one of the few Aristos who have decided to perform surgery on themselves to stop transcending. I've been fascinated by the Trader society since Day One of reading this series; I started and finished this book in the same day. IMHO, Asaro's best yet.
Yay, I'm all caught up! Currently reading Peony In Love; expect (possibly brief) reviews of The Prodigal Troll and Catch the Lightning pre-Alpha, plus maybe Irresistible Forces. I have a new stack of library books! Also, this makes 30 books since I started keeping count on May 9th, my birthday.
by Catherine Asaro
398 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/SF/Romance
Plot: Sauscony Valdoria Skolia (Soz) leaves her home world of Lyshriol against her father's wishes and attends the Dieshan Military Academy (DMA, also coincidentally the acronym for the Delaware Military Academy). I'm running out of things to comment on; like I said in an earlier review, Asaro's strengths and weaknesses don't vary much from book to book. I read Part Two of Triad first out of the entire Saga, and I immediately fell in love with Soz. This volume necessarily suffers from lack of tension, but it's partially my fault for reading all over the place. The background exposition is also identical to previous books, making me wonder if Asaro just keeps the relevant explanations in a text file somewhere, ready to be copy-pasted in. But of course that can't be true. Still, Soz's story is fascinating. I only wish her classes were the focus instead of the "world" events; I think this would have succeeded better as more bildungsroman and less space opera.
Spherical Harmonic
by Catherine Asaro
428 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/SF/Romance
An experimental style in the opening, which I think succeeded in truly showing Dehya's experience with coalescing. Which is basically what happens: Dehya (Dyhianna Selei, Ruby Pharaoh) returns to existence after spending some time as thought waves in Kyle space, then proceeds to overthrow the Imperial Assembly and partially reinstate it. I liked the use of grammar to show the Shay language. This volume has the most obvious hard science, perhaps due to Dehya being a genius at math and Asaro being in love with spherical harmonics (I have no idea what they are, except that the pictures of gradiant balls are pretty). For hard-core sciency folks, there's a lengthy author's note/essay at the end explaining lots of stuff. I skimmed over it because I'm trying to finish all my self-assigned reading homework before Alpha on Wednesday.
The Moon's Shadow
by Catherine Asaro
478 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/SF/Romance
This story overlaps with Spherical Harmonic and to a lesser extent Ascendant Sun. Told in tight third from Jaibriol III (Jai)'s POV, it is a long and hard look into the inner machinations of the Eubian Concord aka Trader Empire. Jai, the daughter of Soz and Jaibriol from Primary Inversion and The Radiant Seas, trades himself in exchange for his uncle Eldrin to become, at age 17, the new Emperor Qox. Scheming and assassination attemps ensue; Jai must simultaneously protect himself from overwhelming Aristo minds and use his abilities as a psion to gain advantage in cutthroat, convulted Eubian politics. He ends up marrying Tarquine Iquar, Eube's Finance Minister and one of the few Aristos who have decided to perform surgery on themselves to stop transcending. I've been fascinated by the Trader society since Day One of reading this series; I started and finished this book in the same day. IMHO, Asaro's best yet.
Yay, I'm all caught up! Currently reading Peony In Love; expect (possibly brief) reviews of The Prodigal Troll and Catch the Lightning pre-Alpha, plus maybe Irresistible Forces. I have a new stack of library books! Also, this makes 30 books since I started keeping count on May 9th, my birthday.